Two of the key indicator discoveries of this period include advanced biological sciences and wafertech. Wafertech revolutionizes sophontic professional skillsets, allowing access to learned expertise in a new and novel format, but not one without considerable drawbacks.

NEWS: While the Ansible and FTL communications are still not viable, tachyon communicators and improved laser and LIDAR communications devices make the farther reaches of a star system more accessible, which in turn yields expanded Oort Cloud mining, further exploration, and more astrophysical research. Belters become an even more important part of interstellar economy.

LARGE SCALE POWER: Fusion+ becomes increasingly miniaturized and power collectors start to become more viable. Theoretical research into antimatter and other exotic power generation technologies yields new promise for the future. Prototype applications of some of these technologies are starting to debut. The new power sources aren’t mastered yet.

LAND, SEA & AIR: Gravcraft and speeders have almost entirely replaced planetary vehicles once specialized for a single environment. Lower technology worlds still produce wheelcraft, maritime ships, and aircraft, but almost all higher tech worlds operate a near exclusive stable of gravcraft.

SPACE: High performance speeders, which combine properties of gravcraft and aircraft, tend to dominate the skies. Sustained high hypersonic flight becomes possible within an atmosphere.

MANUFACTURING: Makertech gains in efficiency allowing for longer endurance starships capable of more self repair than ever before. All larger starships now contain a makertech shop. Nanotech is maturing and, while not at the miraculous levels prophesized by the “goo gods,” is still quite impressive.

COMPUTERS: High autonomous robots outperform many educated experts across many fields. They still can’t match the apex professors, but they can perform perfectly well at the professional level. Holocrystals and advanced bio-compumetrics are increasing functioning to billions of actions per nanosecond. Computer brain implants allow complete rehabilitation and restoration of function to almost all individuals who were formerly handicapped. Infomorphs and downloadable brains supplement wafertech. Pseudoreality simulators show amazing promise. Many societies can build processors that meet the Imperial standards for Model/7, Model/8, and Model/9 processors.

GOVERNMENT: Polystellar governance has become a fine art. Pocket empires have now grown into a variety of larger states including the largest polities, known as hyperpowers, which often encompass thousands of member worlds. Some, like the Third Imperium, experiment with feudal confederations, loosening the requirements for membership and limiting interstellar responsibilities to a few key areas. Other like the Zhodani Consulate experiment with many layers of representative governance and psionically-aided cultural features.

STRUCTURES: Arcologies are extremely commonplace on high-population worlds and domed cities are becoming quite common in underwater and hostile environments. Integrated world processor nets and worldnets are part of the background expectations for worlds at this stage of development. Processor nets known as City Minds run recycling nets, maintain environmental systems, traffic grids, and nearly every other urban function as part of a comprehensive and cooperative city system.

MEDICINE: Entire limbs and internal organs can be cloned and flash-grown. Injuries that used to be a tragedy are now an inconvenience. Extreme sports enthusiasts further push the envelope with even less caution or fear. Geneering is becoming commonplace, no longer a medical marvel. Simple engineered species are being created every week, sometimes for very specialized applications. Mind Engineering and advanced psychology allow for limited memory erasure and replacement, albeit with significant side effects. Mortality is becoming more and more limited and life expectancies are on the rise thanks to better medicine and advanced anagathics.

TACTICAL COMBAT: More capable gravcraft allow for continent-spanning battle formations while meson artillery obviates all but the best-defended enemies. Deep meson planetary defense installations are a real threat to interstellar warships. Gaus and high energy weaponry have almost completely replaced chemically propelled projectiles at the sharp end. Mature cryogenics allows for a viable cold watch, which can be activated before a battle to allow for bigger marine complements, or other vital crew on starships. Drop troops now regularly traverse atmospheres from high orbit to invade a planet.

Effective biological sciences such as cloning, bioengineering, and the forced-growth processes makes geneering possible. Tailored lifeform development opens up entire new vistas across the spectrum of civilizational development. Terraforming is making great leaps as an applied science.

Advanced life sciences allow for lifespans longer than ever before both due to disease eradication and anagathics. Anagathics don’t come without drawbacks and social stigmas form around those who overuse the technology. Geneering allows for whole new vistas including tailored organisms allowing for greatly enhanced building of biopsheres on terraformed worlds.

Makertech, a euphemism for the combination of a number of different manufacturing technologies, allows for mass manufacturing on scales never before realized. Von Neumann machines are experimented with and closely monitored. Portable fab shops can be found on every major starship and nearly every colony brings a makertech shop with them.

Wafertech revolutionizes society by making professional skillsets more prevalent than ever before. Earlier experimentation with the technology creates new kinds of convalescent homes for entire swathes of society, but eventually ways are found to better use the technology despite its drawbacks. Each new generation of the technology maximizes potential gains while minimizing drawbacks.

The TL:13-15 very high technology level of technical mastery represents the cutting edge societies of Charted Space.

They are higher than average. As a whole, sophont societies in this range can confidently produce TL:13-15 goods and are exploring more advanced goods production, conducting research, and are working their way towards mastering TL-16 and more advanced technologies.

The following sophont species are known to possess technical mastery within these technological limits: